


Chapter VII: Diamond in the Rough, Part 1

by SallySS



Series: Love Trunk [8]
Category: Claymore
Genre: Bisexuality, Explicit Language, F/F, Homosexuality, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 07:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9594044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SallySS/pseuds/SallySS
Summary: Excerpts from the daily life of Rona, a new addition to the warriors known as Claymore, led by the mysterious Organization. Follow her through her struggles and triumphs as she fights to survive against the flesh craved yoma and awakened beings.- A mask is torn off, revealing the true face and true intentions that lie underneath.





	

A few hours passed quietly in the night, Rona sleeping deeply and Stephanie with her eyes closed, trying to push the thought of Stella leaving far from mind. A sound outside made Stephanie look up and she was surprised to see a man in black enter the cave. She didn’t know this one, so she presumed it was Rona’s handler, especially since he had a new uniform in hand to replace her torn and bloodied one. He looked Stephanie over and she did the same to him, each of them seeing a monster through their eyes.    
  
Branly spoke first, his voice hushed as to not wake Rona. “Where is Stella? You two are supposed to be paired together.”   
  
“You’re neither her handler nor mine, what do you care?” Stephanie huffed a reply.   
  
“I  _ care _ because I know the organization paired you two together for a reason. It was unwise to go against their decision. Where is she?” His face was stern and his voice accusatory, it only fueled Stephanie’s annoyance.   
  
“She went to go on the mission. I don’t need her around, alright? I’m fine by myself. She’s not even doing anything for my wound, I don’t know why you have her follow me around.”    
  
“Follow you around? I think you are mistaken; you’re the one who’s doing the following.” This certainly got the warrior’s attention. “You see, when you really try, you are the most resistant to having your yoki manipulated, which makes you the best fit for killing Stella if she’s gone rogue.” Branly crossed his arms, seeing the confusion set onto the warrior’s face. “Regardless of whatever nonsense reason she fed you for her joining the organization, the truth is she’s out for revenge. If she finds her target, she will not hesitate to awaken to destroy it.”   
  
“That’s insane, she told me her baby died from an illness and when her husband found out he beat her up and left her, and you sleazy bastards came along and told her that if she trusted you that you would fix her. Even if she was lying about joining unwillingly, she wouldn’t need to be a warrior to kill her husband, he’s just a human. For fucks sake, she almost took my head off for insulting her husband, I doubt she wants to kill him!”   
  
Rona blinked awake from the commotion, startled at Branly’s presence, but stayed quiet, listening to the conversation.   
  
“Yes, she is quite the liar isn’t she? Played you like a fiddle.” Branly leaned down, face inches away from Stephanie’s, “Stella’s husband is dead. He died with her son when an abyssal one attacked their village. She was trapped under a collapsed building, though for the most part surprisingly unharmed; when one of our agents went to survey the damage, she was uncovered from the rubble and brought into the organization.” He stood up straight, letting that information sink into Stephanie’s thick skull. “She’s mothering. You’re a problem child. We stuck you two together in hopes that she wouldn’t go off on her own, but apparently she put on a bit of a show and slipped away. We assigned you the higher rank to deter her from awakening in your presence, but you’ve fought as a pair for long enough that she’s probably assessed your abilities and determined she greatly overshadows your abilities.”   
  
“W-wait, so you’re saying she thinks she’s better than me?” Stephanie was still trying to process everything he was saying.   
  
“I’m saying she’s better than you in virtually every way, you were only given the position of number one to hopefully keep Stella in line. She is one of the strongest warriors we’ve ever had in our midst, there is no way you would ever compare.”    
  
Stephanie hung her head, her heart beating erratically from all this unknown information being revealed to her. Her hands shook as she gripped her own biceps to seemingly hold herself together.   
  
“If you can bring Stella back to the organization unharmed, we will let you keep your position; if not, you’ll be dropped to the double digits.”   
  
Her head snapped up with a look of horror “D-double digits?! I’ll never be taken seriously by the other warriors again!”   
  


Rona closed her eyes just as Branly turned around to face her, acting like she was still asleep.   
  
“Well then you’d best find her before the hunting party does.” He tossed Rona’s uniform down beside her. “I believe Delilah and Heslin are in the next town over, you can bring them and Rona along just in case she fights you; you’re going to need all the help you can get. And if she does awaken, pray you can flee fast enough to keep your head.”   
  
Stephanie sat in stunned silence as Branly exited just as quietly as he came, before the tremors in her body overtook her and she couldn’t keep herself from sobbing.   
  
Rona waited a moment before sitting up, rubbing her arm. On one hand she wanted to see Adaira,  **needed** to see her; and yet she somehow felt she needed to assist Stephanie in bringing Stella back safe. Stella had saved her life.   
  
Before Rona could speak up, Stephanie got to her feet and snatched up her armor and weapon, looking like she might march out that very moment.   
  
“Where are you going?” Rona pushed herself up off the floor.    
  
Stephanie had stopped, but she hadn’t said anything. Rona could feel the shift in the air, yoki being released in Stephanie’s body; she was going to make a run for it. Rona lunged at her before she could take off and pinned her to the floor, though it took quite a bit of her own yoki to hold the higher ranking warrior down while she was flailing on her belly. Rona slipped her arm around Stephanie’s neck, grabbing tight her wrist with her other hand and pulling back with all the strength she could muster to make the single digit bend back in a position that had no leverage. Hand to hand combat like this wasn’t something the warriors were trained in and could give Rona the advantage even if her opponents were far stronger than her.    
  
Realizing she wasn’t going to be able to break free without a serious fight, Stephanie put her hands out in front of her and stopped struggling. She coughed when the vice around her neck was loosened, “What, are you trying to fucking kill me?”   
  
“You’re going to get  _ yourself  _ killed running off like that. Branly flat out tells you that she’s leagues above you and you think you’re going to get in the way of the only thing she strives for? Wake up Stephanie.”   
  
Stephanie started to squirm again, this time Rona’s grip slipping on her, “She’s not better than me! I’m the number one!”   
  
Rona tried to hold her, letting more and more of that unbridled beastly power clash through her body, but her superior wasn’t even using her yoki yet and seemed to be slowly breaking out of the restraint. Stephanie put her hands on the ground and bucked Rona right off her back, and before Rona even hit the ground Stephanie had the point of her claymore poised at her throat.    
  
Rona suppressed her yoki and stared Stephanie in the eyes, “This isn’t even about Stella is it…” She slapped the sword out of her face and stood up again, closing the distance between them, making Stephaine nervous that she wasn’t even intimidated by her. “This is about  **you** and your ego. To be dropped to double digits would hurt your pride and reputation, because that’s the only thing you have.”    
  


“N-no I... “ she rubbed her eyes with her forearm though the tears were quickly replaced. “I care about Stella, if she’s truly doing this for her vengeance and to lighten the load on her heart than I can’t be the one to stand in the way of that. But I can’t bear the thought of the others knowing that my title was a sham; it would be better to die against an awakened Stella, and that’s why I can’t bring any of you along with me. I was a pitiful piece of shit as a human, as a warrior this was the first chance I had at being something great. My name is known, it will go down in history, I don’t want a footnote attached to that saying it was all a lie…” She was rubbing her face red, trying to contain the tears that streamed steadily from her eyes.    
  
“You would let your friend and protector dismantle their very humanity in order to exact vengeance? If you truly cared for her, you would take up arms  _ together _ and fight this thing with your humanity still in tact.”    
  
“Are you insane? There’s no way we could fight that abyssal one just as two warriors. That’s the only reason she wants to awaken, because she knows that with the surge of power she’ll get, she will be able to crush it.”   
  
“Then you train more.” Rona barked at her, getting in her face like a guard captain does with a new recruit. “Shortcuts are not an option. Stella said herself that when a warrior turns, there is no human side left, it is swallowed up and overtaken with the hunger for innards. So how could you even allow your friend to awaken when it’s not even definite she will avenge her family? You train, you live, your persevere. THAT is how you overcome an obstacle. You will become strong enough, I swear it.” Rona held out her hand and waited for Stephanie to present hers, grabbing her forearm. “If you’re going to be the number one like I know you can, Prove it to me. You are Undertaker Stephanie, now let’s go get Stella… together.”   
  
Stephanie wasn’t really sure what happened, but it was like Rona lit a fire in her, and she was sure that this warrior she just met spoke hard truth to her.    
  
In that moment they were more than comrades,   
  
In that moment, Stephanie glimpsed her purpose. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Short chapter, but part two is basically written, just being cleaned up. Will most likely be posted within this next week. Thank you to anyone still reading, I read any feedback you give me!


End file.
